Matt Westerhold is managing editor of the Register. Westerhold writes a weekly column in the Sunday Register and he is a member of the media company's editorial board. He often also writes about his personal views in this opinion blog.

Comments

pcplayer

Fri, 02/15/2013 - 9:11pm

Who are the panelists? Who is the guy with red tie who keeps twirling his water bottle?

eriemom

Sat, 02/16/2013 - 10:55pm

So much for the warning that id Obamacare survived a Supreme Court decision, then doctors would refuse to treat medicare patients. Fear mongers: zero

SamAdams

Sun, 02/17/2013 - 12:42pm

Current polls suggest about 40% of doctors intend to leave the healthcare industry in the immediate future. 40%. That's a lot of doctors that will not only not be offering Medicare patients any care, but nobody else, either!

Experience in other countries (and in limited state programs like those in Massachusetts) suggest that there will always be at least a few doctors who WILL treat Medicare/Medicaid patients, but that the waits for appointments and any corresponding care will be very, very long, and that treatment(s) may be denied all together (refer to circumstances in England).

pcplayer

Sun, 02/17/2013 - 3:20pm

Why only Firelands Hospital represented? There are other local medical facilities - Cancer Center, NOMS, other hospitals. Where were they?

Gulliver

Thu, 02/28/2013 - 9:02pm

Great suggestion.

LadyC

Sun, 02/17/2013 - 2:09pm

40% leaving? What are they going to do for jobs then? It's about time something was done to keep the medical industry from becoming so profit-driven and greedy. Sad that so many of them are not about healing anymore.

SamAdams

Mon, 02/18/2013 - 9:39am

LadyC, EVERY business, including healthcare, is profit driven. That being said, the healthcare industry is plagued by a "catch 22" situation. The insurance companies, unhappy with the rising prices of service, raise premiums and engage in mass denials of coverage. The doctors see so much denied or cut that they raise prices to cover their own costs. The insurance companies see that, an do another series of denials, etc. It's THAT vicious circle that needs to be stopped via insurance reform, tort reform, etc.

I've worked in insurance company administration, and I KNOW how the denials and the price cuts work. Intimately. I've also worked in a doctor's office, and I know just what the effects of those denials and reimbursement levels are. It isn't pretty from EITHER side. But what won't solve the problem is nationalized healthcare. In fact, it'll just create even bigger ones.